Why All Real Estate Investors Need a Good Mentor

Whether you’re just beginning or if you have plenty of experience as a real estate investor, a good mentor can be your key to success. No matter what your challenge is or goals are, here are some tips to help you choose the right mentor (and what they can do for your business).

If you are a beginner, do you have a strategy? No matter what the strategy, there has been someone who has done it before; you are not re-inventing the wheel. Finding a mentor who has mastered your strategy could be your shortcut to success and can be your start in building tremendous win-win relationships that can help you achieve a long term successful career.

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A Real Estate Mentor Can Help You to:

Create your strategy and business plan – Having no plan is simply planning to fail. A business plan is mandatory before you start investing. Mentors have expertise in different strategies and can help map a plan.

Handle challenges such as financing, finding deals and doing them – Financing is a huge challenge. Additionally, there are also many challenges an inexperienced investor can encounter in finding and doing deals. It is ALWAYS helpful having someone by your side.

Confirm a deal is a deal – Sometimes even experienced investors have doubts and reservations about a deal. Have a mentor evaluate the deal and provide feedback.

Building teams and systems – Mentors can recommend professionals to join your team and help improve your systems.

Exiting deals – Good mentors can help you implement your exit strategy and help you achieve success.

Choosing the right mentor is not as easy as finding the first person to help you. They have to be a master at your strategy and willing to create a win-win relationship. A wholesale expert is not going to be the right fit to help you develop raw land into a shopping center or buy a mobile home park. Find out who is the best in your area at your strategy and invite them to talk over lunch.

The right mentor will take you under their wing. They will be an open book, share all the tips and expert strategies you can use in your own business, and open up their entire contacts list. It is important to make it a win-win relationship for both parties. In a sense, a mentor is training their competition, so you must make it worth while for them by partnering, helping them, and becoming allies.

Finally, it is important to respect your mentor’s time. Listen to them and apply their teachings. Remember, a good mentor is one of the best ways to turbo charge your business and achieve success.

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8 Comments

Having a mentor is a very supportive aide and it’s great to have one in any field. Real estate in particular can make big gains or big losses, as we’ve seen recently, so it’s worth paying extrra to make sure you stay on the right side of the spreadsheet. You’ll need to be careful to choose your mentor carefully and be sure to ask him or her enough questions to know his own successes so that you can trust him to help you make yours.

Great article. Every successful person will tell you that they have had one or more mentors who have helped move them through their careers.

While real estate investing offers many opportunities to find a mentor, the biggest challenge is finding one that will help in such a way that your success is as important to them as their own success. There are just too many “gurus” out there who will gladly mentor anyone… or 100’s of anyones and then try to move them through the program as quickly as possible with little or no benefit to the investor.

Bottom line… a lousy mentor will only take your money and offer little in return… while a good mentor will shorten your learning curve, help you to avoid costly mistakes and increase your overall profits.

I had another thought on this. This could apply to anything, but more so for Realtors. Having more than one mentor is a great benefit. How about taking it a step further and finding a different mentor for each part of your business. Maybe you have one for open houses…for some reason this particular individual as a lot of success when they host them. If the person is willing to share find out why they work for them. Is it the time of day, the day, church or even sporting events? Might sound odd that sporting events would affect the traffic, but if you’re in an area with a huge football following will there be much traffic at game time? Then find a different person that has success with their website, blog, the different pieces of social media, calling expired listings, FSBOs, etc.

I think if you’re able to find experts in these different areas it could get you far.

I agree completely and whole heartedly. Many who contact me have gone the route of expending dollars for limited knowledge that in the end causes their undoing. Some have made horrid purchasing choices and in despiration call to ask “I bought this property at auction, what do I do now?” There is typically a simple step by step explanation for most of these people. Usually the answers I give are not happy ones. IE: 2 weeks ago a caller asked if there was a way to remove counties liens that far exceeded property value, they purchased the tax deed. Advice, negotiate with dept holding lien, they may reduce them. If not, do not pay taxes on property and tax certificates will be issued. After the second year, the certificate holder can apply for the tax deed and an auction held. The subsequent tax deed will be issued to the certificate holder or high auction bidder. If the property value appreciates beyond the liens, redeem the certificates before issuance of tax deed. If at any time the county begins foreclosure of their lien you have to pay or lose your interest in the property. The process will take no less than 2 years, no more than 7. Other consideration, the county lien will attach to all property owned in the county. If you sell a property situate in that county, title inisurance will not be issued unless the lien is satisfied, back to negotiating with the dept.

A good mentor is an enabler which will create gain for both parties while seeing the long term goal of independence of the one being mentored.

Due to calls like the afore noted, I have become bitter at self promoting gurus and those exploiting for the their own gain.

PS-Please don’t contact me wanting to know where you can buy properties for pennies on the dollar. In 2 generations of family investors, I have found that it can happen but it is so rare that it is not worth the energy or time to chase that rainbow. The greatest return is one that can be repeated, chase the rainbow knowing it will fail 99%, chase the property with a potential of 20%-35% and your path will be sustainable.

Ryan, what a great article. This should be a must read for all beginners. I can’t tell you how many first time investors think that what they buy will automatically make them money overnight with no knowledge of the business.

Rayn this was a well put and should be learned by all new people and old alike . to get some one that will help you . and call you and meraly take you and get you to under stand that their is so many people that just what to sell you things and then drop you as soon as your check is in their hand . so yes i hope new people can read this and get it . that they just can’t step up and hit a home run with out knowing or learning what too do first